Election Night
by katebeckettisafangirl
Summary: Castle Fanfic Election Day entry! State Senate Election Night 2018. Nominee Kate Beckett anxiously awaits the results for her district.


Summary: Castle Fanfic Election Day entry! State Senate Election Night 2018. Nominee Kate Beckett anxiously awaits the results for her district.

Author's note: Hey guys, this is my submission for Castle Fanfic Election Day! And now time for something entirely… oh wait. So I'm actually a huge fan of Hillary and I really want to see her win by a huge margin to restore my faith in this country. But in case that doesn't happen here is an election win we can all get behind. As in the show I have kept Beckett's political party ~ambiguous~ (not entirely) but I think we can all guess who she'd be voting for today. Also, just a note, this was very last minute and has not been beta read so I apologize now for all mistakes.

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle and I by no means want Daniel Squadron to step down in 2018.

Word count: 3,394

* * *

 **November 6** **th** **2018 – 22:14**

"That was Simon," Castle announced coming into the study where Kate sat in his desk chair with her legs pulled up against her chest. "He said the last polling place just closed."

"Any numbers?"

"Only positive," he smiled as he came to stand behind her and let his hands fall upon her shoulders. "You've got this," he whispered brushing a kiss to her ear.

"We've not got a single result in yet," Beckett said aggressively clicking refresh on the computer screen and still being faced by rows and columns of zeros. "That can't be good, can it?"

"Polling places only started closing up an hour ago," he said soothingly, letting his fingers massage her shoulders. "There are a lot of votes to be counted and verified. It's going to take a little patience, but you've got this in the bag."

"I just want tonight to be over," she sighed relaxing backwards into the firm press of his fingers. He smiled a little glad to be able to offer her some comfort.

It had been a stressful day. He'd woken up to find both his wife and daughter missing, but, as it had been for the past six months, his living room was already filling up with enthusiastic interns and Kate's campaign staff before breakfast. Apparently Lily had woken early and Beckett had decided that it was an excellent time to get the voting over with. Then she had disappeared for the rest of the day alternating between intense discussions at the door with her aides and being locked up in the study making phone calls to remind voters to go out to vote and identifying any last minute voters who would need transportation to polling places. When Castle had approached at lunch with a bowl of soup she had yelled at him that she didn't have time for lunch and told him if he wanted to help he should get on the phones or head down to HQ.

He'd avoided his study for the afternoon and had taken Lily to the playground for a little toddle around. He'd sent her a cute selfie of the pair of them on the teeter-totter and asked if he should bring home Chinese for dinner. That seemed to melt her and by the time they arrived home she had dismissed the remaining campaign interns so that for the first time since he could remember the three of them had the loft to themselves. She had softened considerably and for a little while it almost felt like they weren't waiting to here back from the electorate on her future career path. She was evidently tired, but they had a nice dinner together with Lily smashing more into highchair's table than her mouth and insisting on giving Castle a very sticky kiss half way through an attempt at some noodles. As they cleared the table she apologized for her outburst at lunch and remarkably held back another when he admitted that his voter ID had been in the study all day and he hadn't had the chance to vote yet. She bit her tongue, swept Lily out of the highchair, pressed his coat into his chest, and sent him on his way. By that time of evening lines were long and it took him over an hour to cast his vote for his wife. It was an odd feeling to see 'Katherine H Beckett' on a ballot paper, but it ignited a feeling of pride inside him. They had both been taken aback by the suggestion that she should run for the State Senate but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. She was a fabulous candidate and even if she weren't his wife he would have been crossing the top box anyway. He took care to make his cross as neatly as possible, determined not to give anyone any reason to count his ballot paper as spoiled.

When he returned home he had been greeted by a freshly bathed Lily curled up with her mother on the couch with a pile of bedtime stories, not a voter list, phone, or campaign intern in sight. It was a good feeling and made him look forward to the coming weeks when he was sure things would begin to go back to normal and their family unit would be restored to normalcy.

It was a simple moment of calm before the storm. Since the official launch of the campaign there hadn't been many moments alone for the three of them and he was looking forward to getting that back at the end of this. Throughout the campaign Beckett had continued on as Captain of the Twelfth and at the same time Castle had frantically been writing a new book, which was due out in February. It had been eight months of tag teaming Lily between them. The closest thing they had had to family time was when Beckett and Lily fell asleep on him while he furiously did rewrites to fire off to Gina on the couch.

In the next few weeks there was some kind of hope though. He had just sent Gina what were looking like final edits and Beckett wouldn't actually start work up in Albany until January. He wanted to go away somewhere with his family. Alexis was currently dating a law student called Santino from Argentina and had been talking about going to spend Christmas and New Year with him and Castle was sort of swept up in the idea of turning it into a family vacation. They could maybe even go early enough to celebrate Lily's second birthday at the beach. A nice long break before they took up life as a commuter family.

"Do you want to go down to HQ and watch in real time?" He asked as he watched her click with a little too much pressure to refresh the screen again. The rows and columns of zeros did nothing but flicker.

"No," she shook her head. "Bianca said she would swing by with the speeches soon," she said unfolding her legs and getting to her feet. "Did your mother say when she would get here?"

"It should be soon. She said the play was supposed to end about an hour ago," he opened his arms to her as she fell in for a hug. He held her for a few minutes. Her body was heavy against his in the way that always signaled it had been a long day. "Do you want to lay down for a bit before Bianca gets here?"

"Don't have time," she murmured, her eyes were already closed against his chest.

"Are you sure? It's going to be a long night," he reminded rubbing soothing circles on her back.

"I don't think I could sleep if I tried Castle," she gave him a small smile. "Besides, I need to go over the speech with Bianca. I'm sure I'll find some energy once we get to the party."

"Party?" He teased. "Careful Senator Beckettt, you're starting to sound confident."

"Don't call me that." She said briskly. "And there's a party either way Castle," she pushed his shoulder playfully. "But the district hasn't swung since 1969."

"So if you lose it's not so much a reflection of the party, as a reflection on yo-"

"Don't even finish that thought," she raised her voice, but he could hear the chuckle that she was suppressing.

"I know you're going to do it," he reassured her. "My mother will be here soon to sort out your expectations though."

She laughed at that and then looked up at him seriously. "Things are really going to change Castle."

"What? This is just occurring to you now?" He asked tickling her sides and making her squirm.

"No," she said slowly. "I just," she paused biting her lip before starting again. "If it gets too much for us, you will say won't you?"

He frowned a little as he considered his response. "Beckett, this is a great step for you. How many people that you were in the academy with can say they are becoming senators? Or even your classmates from Stanford? This is a real chance to make a difference and to have a say in making the policy that helps the NYPD do their job and address so many of the causes of crime in New York." He squeezed her sides reassuringly. "Besides, I can't really imagine any job taking up as much time as being Captain of the 12th Precinct and running an election campaign. I think if anything we're going to be seeing a whole lot more of you."

"I want to see more of you too. But you will say if it's not working out for you and Lily, won't you? Because it's only a two year commitment and I want our family to come first."

"I'll be the first to let you know," he promised.

The doorbell rang out before the conversation could go any further.

"I'll go see who it is," Beckett said slipping out of the study and away from the conversation that her sleep deprived brain was starting to obsess over.

It was Martha and Bianca. They had run into one another on the way over and had ridden the elevator up together. Castle set to work fixing coffee for himself, Bianca, and Kate, as well as a tea for his mother who had taken her things up to the guest room to settle in.

She was going to stay with Lily through the night and bring her over to HQ in time for the morning's photo op. Alexis and Jim were both already down at HQ. Alexis had been heading up a team of canvassers all day and Jim had been one of the drivers to help get the elderly to the polling places. They had found that even over the phone Martha came across as a little overbearing to most voters and Beckett and Castle had both been scrambling to find tasks to keep her occupied whenever she asked to help out with the campaign. Lily had been their primary diversion tactic.

Bianca and Kate sat in the living room going over the speeches the younger had written. Castle watched as Beckett listened carefully and made amendments and suggestions as they went. It had become blaringly obvious to both Beckett and Castle that Simon and Bianca were the real powerhouse behind her predecessor. Their knowledge of the job and experience had been a godsend and Beckett was looking forward to having them on her team fulltime in January.

"Ok," Bianca announced getting to her feet. "Get ready to give the speech, and try not to watch the results come in too intently. Simon said he would give you a call when he has the preliminary results around 2 am."

"OK, thank you so much," Beckett said getting to her feet too. "This speech is really good, and thank you for all your work on the campaign."

"No problem," Bianca gave her a smile. "I'm going to head back to HQ now, do you want me to send someone over to pick you up when we have the results?"

"That would be great," Beckett smiled and nodded.

"OK, I suppose I'll see you all later," she gave Martha and Castle who were hovering in the kitchen a small wave as she left.

"You know," Martha began once Bianca had left. "That girl is right," she nodded sagely. "Watching the results come in isn't going to change them so why don't we watch a movie to pass the time? I brought a filming of The Tempest from Shakespeare in the Park, shall we have a look?" Martha said going over to the entertainment system and beginning to set it up. "They say Sara Ramos as Ariel is a real wonder!" Castle and Beckett shrugged at each other resigning themselves to Martha's middle of the night distractions, but both managed to sneak their phones onto the couch.

* * *

 **November 7** **th** **2018 – 01:54**

The ringing of Beckett's phone startled Castle awake on the couch and the iPad that Beckett had perched against his sleeping chest to display the county results was sent bouncing to the ground.

"Beckett," she answered.

Sleepily he came too, realizing they were on the couch with his mother with The Tempest still playing on the big screen. He screwed up his eyes as he tried to find out the time, but could only assume that this was the call they had been waiting for.

"Eighty seven percent?" He heard Beckett asking into the phone.

"Eight seven percent?" He repeated suddenly feeling more awake and she waved a hand at him shushing him silently.

"OK, I'll be with you soon," she agreed and ended the call.

"You won?" Castle asked, still a little disorientated.

"It's not been verified," she said. "But it's looks like eight seven percent for me," she sounded a little awed and he wrapped her in a massive hug that might have hurt had she not been so happy.

"I'm so proud of you," he whispered into her hair trying to dry the tears that had begun to creep out due to either pride or exhaustion he didn't quite know.

"Well done Katherine! You've worked so hard," Martha joined the chorus of praise. "I'd suggest popping open a bottle of something, but I'm really afraid that I will have to go to bed soon if I'm expected to keep up with my granddaughter tomorrow morning."

"Thanks Martha," Kate gave her a smile as she extracted herself from Castle's arms and got to her feet.

"We'll do it some other time kiddo," Martha promised as she began to clear the mugs into the kitchen.

"I'm going to get ready to go. My dad's coming over to give us a ride," she told Castle. "There's time for a shower if you need to wake yourself up," she offered as she took in his bleary eyes and pale complexion.

* * *

 **November 7** **th** **2018 – 02:38**

Kate had changed into the dress she had picked out weeks ago with Alexis and had taken care to set her hair and make-up in a way that would endure the endless hours of being photographed that surely lay ahead of her.

There was still no sign of her dad, which was slightly surprising as she assumed traffic at this time of the morning would be next to nonexistent. Castle had taken up the offer of a shower and Martha had already retired to bed so Kate took her opportunity to check on the loft's only other resident.

Lily was just over a month away from turning two and it seemed that every time Kate laid eyes on her she had stretched upwards another inch. Especially when she was asleep and stretched out in a pair of pyjamas that were getting a little too short at the wrists and ankles. Kate knew it would be an effort to wrestle them into storage. Lily loved all things green and the frog printed pyjamas Alexis had come across were dearly loved and often demanded after bath time.

She stroked her daughter's little tuffs of dark hair gently, it was getting just long enough to start doing things with but Lily had very little patience for Kate's ineptitude. Maybe she would let Martha do something cute with it tomorrow morning. Unlike almost everyone else that passed through their lives Lily seemed to be calmed by Martha's eccentrics.

"I'll see you in the morning baby," Kate whispered as she pressed a kiss to her fingers and then pressed her fingers to Lily's cheek. Lily slept on completely unaware that her cries would be greeted by her beloved grandmother the next morning with both parents absent.

* * *

 **November 7** **th** **2018 – 03:17**

HQ had been transformed beyond recognition. The rows of desks that usually sat in the center of the room had been pushed to the edges and a screen projector had been set up against one of the walls. Local news coverage of the elections was playing live, though not many people were paying attention to it. There was a cluster of interns with a big whiteboard noting down any major developments and calling out to the room at large when the party made another win, although it seemed that so far that night there hadn't been any surprises. A few seats had switched hands, but it didn't seem to affect the eventual outcome of the senate's make up.

Mostly the room was filled with people who had worked on the campaign who were taking their chance to celebrate the achievement and wind down with a few glasses of champagne after an intense few months.

Simon called for everyone's attention when Kate arrived and a huge cheer went up that made Kate smile giddily. She said a quick thank you to the room at large and announced that she was looking forward to finding out the final result with them.

She then started to make her way around the room thanking everyone for their contributions on the campaign and making a little small talk as she went.

She really did amaze him. Working a room wasn't exactly something that came naturally to her, but she had learnt early on in the campaign that thanking your volunteers and taking time to get to know party members did a lot for her internal and external popularity and now she was thought highly of by everyone in the room. Not that he ever doubted she could win the local party over, as well as the electorate.

He and Jim sidled over to the drinks table and grabbed a coffee each - both clearly in need of a boost.

"I never thought I'd see my little girl become a senator," Jim laughed.

"She is extraordinary," Castle nodded as he took in the look for pride and complete amazement on Jim's face as he watched Kate circle the room.

"I don't think she would have gone this far without you," Jim suddenly turned to Castle. "I thank whoever's up there every day that she found someone like you," Jim confided.

"I'm lucky to have found her too," Castle said. "She's gotten here all by herself. I'm sure that even without me she would have done it."

"Perhaps," Jim conceded. "But I don't think she'd be as happy. I never thought I had any chance at grandchildren until I saw the way you two are around each other. You've given her so much courage to be more than just her job."

"Well, like I said, she is extraordinary," Castle cracked a grin as his eyes continued to follow his wife around the room.

* * *

 **November 7** **th** **2018 – 05:28**

Beckett somehow found her way back to Castle in time for the final results. Their hands were laced together and they stood beside the over excitable interns who were still scribbling statistics frantically onto the whiteboards.

She squeezed his hand and looked up at him with a huge grin as she bit her lip. "This is it," she whispered.

"Too late to change your mind," he replied and she let out a soft laugh as they both resumed holding their breaths waiting for the 26th districts results.

In the end she took the seat with eighty nine percent of the popular vote, an increase of three percent for the party since the last contested election in the district. She threw her arms around her husband's neck in jubilation and he spun her around on the spot as the whole room burst into applause and began to congratulate one another on their hard work.

"Congratulations Senator Beckett," he brushed a soft kiss to her cheek. "Am I allowed to call you that now?"

She smiled up at him and nodded. "It's been crazy."

"What would life be without a little crazy?" He joked and she laughed aware that some combination of elation, exhaustion, and pride in her accomplishment was drawing tears towards her eyes.

"Thank you for everything Castle."

"Always." He said offering her a quick peck on her forehead. She was still giddy from the announcement and the atmosphere of the room was swelling around them with plenty of people calling her name. "I think they want you to give your speech."

* * *

Author's note: That's all for now! Thank you for reading. All feedback is welcome! If you haven't voted yet please go do it and make the right choice!


End file.
